President Buhari Set to Sign The Budget Tomorrow

President Buhari is set to sign the Federal Government’s 2018 budget of N9.1 trillion tomorrow, the 19th of June, 2018.

According to reliable sources, the President had frowned at a N500 billion increase in the N8.6 trillion proposal he submitted to the National Assembly last November.

Part of this increase was channeled to the legislative, the judiciary and other agencies of the government.

However, lawyers in the presidency had warned that there would be implications if the budget was not signed immediately, which could result to using illegal means to withdraw money to run government operations.

A government source disclosed that despite the president’s reservations he was convinced to sign the budget in order not to bring the government to a standstill as it would mean there would be no money to run the government.

If this happens, it would be the first-ever shutdown of the Federal Government with the government being unable to pay for its services.

That is because the cycle of the 2017 budget ended last Wednesday, June 13 which was the date in 2017 when Vice President Yemi Osinbajo signed the last budget in the absence of President Buhari who was on a medical leave at the time.

A source familiar with the development stated that any money spent would have been outside the budget, and that would have meant a constitutional infraction which the President wouldn’t want.

It was gathered that President Buhari’s observations of the increments were mollified by assurances that they would be covered by the increase in the budget benchmark for crude oil as provided in the parameters and reviewed by the National Assembly.

According to a government source, last Thursday, the President invited the Senate president, Bukola Saraki and Speaker Yakubu Dogara for tomorrow’s signing ceremony.